Venom Movie Will Include Carnage as the Villain

Tom Hardy won’t be the only one with a symbiote in Venom as Carnage is also set to be included. Sony previously announced their intentions to make multiple Spider-Man spinoffs and it came as no surprise that they chose their most popular anti-hero to kick things off. Hardy has since been paired with director Ruben Fleischer for the movie, with Venom set to start production later this year. With the film centering around a character that is not the prototypical superhero or just all-around nice guy, finding an obstacle for Eddie Brock to overcome or take down could be difficult.

As of right now, it does not appear as though Venom’s biggest opponent (re: the original web-crawler) will be featured, which all but guarantees that someone from Spidey’s vast rogues gallery will make their live-action debut here, instead. Many fans have been holding out hope for one character in particular to fill that position – a fellow by the name of Cletus Kasady aka. Carnage.

THR has now published a Spider-Man-focused feature, wherein they speak to Sony chairman Tom Rothman about his studio’s entire plans for its Spiderverse. Eventually, the story turns to future projects for Sony and Venom specifically, where THR was able to confirm plans for Carnage to be featured – presumably as the big bad:

As for the expansion plans, Tom Hardy is starring in Venom, dated for Oct. 5, 2018, which will also feature the villain Carnage. A source says Holland is only contractually obligated to Spider-Man 2 and 3, but the intention is to bring him into the spinoffs and possibly other Marvel films (he is currently shooting Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War).

Carnage is arguably the only natural fit to oppose Venom and could provide the film with a very unique storytelling perspective. It has not yet been revealed how the venom symbiote arrives on Earth, attaches itself to Brock, or eventually finds its way to Kasady, but the sudden arrival of it could make it possible for both the hero and villain to be “infected” by the symbiote at the same time – only for the pair to undergo very different arcs, thereafter. Seeing as Venom is reportedly going to be Rated R, an adult-themed character piece that just so happens to feature two ruthless monsters like Venom and Carnage, makes a lot of sense here.

In the comics, Kasady is a serial-killer who merges with the Venom symbiote during a prison breakout. Considering the symbiote’s ability to draw out the worst of its host, Kasady made for a rather despicable one and spawned Carnage. Since his debut in the world of Marvel Comics in the early 1960s, he has maintained his stance as one of Spider-Man’s most terrible villains.

The idea of the film is still confusing to some as it remains unclear if it will be part of the MCU. Amy Pascal says Venom will be an “adjunct” to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it’s not altogether clear what that actually means, at this stage. If the idea is that Venom will canonically be part of the MCU, then we could get confirmation of that in next month’s Spider-Man: Homecoming and/or its post-credits scenes. Otherwise, it may be some time before we know where the Venom film really exists in relation to the MCU.